Populous The Beginning Cheat

[Christain Cobb]

Whenthe Super Famicom hit Japanese store shelves at the end of 1990, it was accompanied by a host of particularly strong titles that did a superb job of communicating the power and versatility of Nintendo's new platform: Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Final Fight; these were arguably system-sellers that could walk effortlessly into any console launch lineup, but there was another title which, to some, may have seemed like the odd one out. Granted, Bullfrog's Populous had already become a critical and commercial smash hit in Europe and North America on the Amiga a year earlier, but how had a strategy game which was apparently so focused on western sensibilities managed to sneak its way into the Super Famicom's fledgling software library, a library which comprised almost entirely of Japanese-made action or adventure titles?

To get the full story of how this remarkable and groundbreaking game gripped Japan, it helps to get right back to the beginning and investigate its genesis. "It really all started with a person who I worked with at Bullfrog called Glenn Corpes, who had drawn some isometric blocks on screen," recalls the one and only Peter Molyneux OBE, the game's designer. Instantly gripped by the tantalising potential of the premise, Molyneux asked if he could play around with it. "I mocked-up this prototype where there was a landscape of isometric blocks and then I thought, what should I put on that landscape? I thought it would be fun to have little people." And thus, a legend was born.

It was the dream ticket, a gateway to further riches; the deal with Electronic Arts was life-changing, but didn't give the US publisher rights to everything. Bullfrog was free to negotiate with other parties when it came to territories in which EA didn't operate, and the Japanese market represented a significant opportunity. However, there was one slight issue: Bullfrog's office was only an office in the loosest sense of the word.

I rented Populous and didn't understand what was happening. I was just about to convince my mom to drive me back to the rental store when I decided to give it one more shot. For some reason it all suddenly made sense, and it hooked me. Once I got it, I loved it. It is still one of my fav snes games.

I still have a soft spot for Molyneux's games, and many fond memories of them. Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, even Gene Wars, for as flawed and unfulfilling of its potential as that game was.

This past handful of years, no less than four separate wannabes of Theme Hospital have caught my attention, and a very deliberate Dungeon Keeper knock-off has reared its head as well. Clearly a lot of developers still look up to Molyneux.

Nice article! I never played populus back then, but seeing 2 people pulling of this much attention with one game and seeing how many people work on one game today and are far less successful is very astonishing! Somehow the Concerned Ape reminds me of that

Brilliant read, thanks for that article. Don't think ive played populous since my mate's Amiga in the early 90s but i remember it being a great game, very different from anything else at the time (then we discovered Settlers and that took over!)

On another note, slightly depressing to see the number of comments on a well written, original and interesting article like this vs throwaway 'what do you think of this rumour' piece. I mean, human nature and all I guess, but when people complain about clickbait and recycled journalism, it's not hard to see why things are the way they are. Website's gotta make money, writers gotta eat.

@MischiefMaker Thanks for the feedback. Like you, I have noticed that the 'usual suspects' who clog up every other post we do with accusations of 'clickbait' are curiously absent whenever we publish something like this, which takes days of planning and work to bring together. We certainly won't stop doing pieces like this; I feel it's a unique service that other Nintendo sites don't offer at the moment.

Texas is holding a primary election next week. It's the first statewide election since the Texas Legislature passed a sweeping law that drastically changes how people vote. Supporters of the law say it will restore voter confidence in elections, but election officials in the state's most populous county say it has already led to widespread confusion among voters, so much so that 40% of applications to vote by mail were flagged for rejection. NPR's Juana Summers reports.

JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: In an office building in downtown Houston, a team of election workers sits across from each other in gray cubicles, managing a flood of calls from voters. In January alone, there were 8,000 calls.

SUMMERS: That's Angela Washington. She's one of the 15 call center workers at this Harris County office dedicated to making sure those voters get answers. Texas limits who is allowed to vote by mail. The group includes those over 65 and people with disabilities. The new law says the ID they provide has to match what's already on file, and that is sometimes not as simple as it sounds. If a voter registered decades ago with their Social Security number but is now using their driver's license number, they'd be rejected.

SUMMERS: Republicans argue voting restrictions like those in the Texas law make it easier to vote and harder to cheat despite no widespread evidence of voter fraud. Texas Secretary of State John Scott did not respond to an NPR request for comment, but here he is speaking to Spectrum News about criticism that the law is confusing.

SUMMERS: In 2020, Harris County rolled out new methods meant to help voters cast ballots easily and more safely during the pandemic, like drive-through voting and 24-hour voting sites. Both are now prohibited. Lydia Nunez Landry, who lives in a suburb of Houston, says that voting should be accessible for everyone. It doesn't feel that way to her this year.

SUMMERS: She has a progressive and currently untreatable form of muscular dystrophy. Because of the risks of coronavirus, she isn't leaving home much, but she says she feels like she has to vote in person.

GABE CAZARES: The law makes it a crime to provide unreasonable assistance. There is very little guidance as to what that means. So folks who provide direct service to people with disabilities are concerned about potentially breaking the law.

SUMMERS: Lydia Ozuna lives in Fort Bend County and leads an anti-gerrymandering group. For her, what's happening in Texas brings up memories of watching her father pay poll taxes so that he could vote.

SUMMERS: That's because she submitted her application in person. The clerk she handed it to flagged the error. After she mailed her ballot, she followed up using the state's ballot tracker. She called her county's early voting clerk, but she worries that others might not be able to be so persistent.

LONGORIA: If I have everyone quit tomorrow in elections, democracy is not happening. I don't get to fail at this job, and I think that's what everyone on my team understands who does still find another day to work.

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